This, by the way, is a perfect argument for making ALL cops wear body cameras.

The cops in my city (Laurel, MD) have started wearing lapel cameras in the last year. Heard a report on the news that since then, they've seen a 60% drop in complaints. I posted about my own bad brush with a Laurel PD officer a few weeks ago. There is little chance that shit would have happened if she knew she was being recorded, but if it did happen, I would feel that much more empowered to file a complaint because I would feel secure in the knowledge the tape would back me up. Currently all kinds of messed up interactions probably occur that never get reported because people assume the system will always take the word of a cop over theirs. Cameras even the playing field.

The more these stories get attention, the more pressure there will be for police to wear body cameras. I'm hoping that after a certain point, police departments will not be about to defend not having body cameras, because of the message that sends. Police reports consistently fail to tell the whole story or even truthful stories, which means they are increasingly becoming worthless in the court of public opinion. I welcome the day when we're no longer stuck with just their biased accounts of what happened; we can just look at the tape and see for ourselves what went down.
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